Temptations of Christ
Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” Matthew 4:5-7
Jesus was about to begin His public ministry. The next three years were going to hurt. Jesus would be rejected by His hometown and the religious leaders of His people. People would accuse Jesus of inciting rebellions, channeling demonic power, and committing blasphemy. Thousands of people would follow Him, but many simply wanted to see His miracles.
Let us not neglect how heavily that weighed on Jesus’s heart. We see Him weep over Jerusalem in Luke 19:41-44 and Matthew 23:37-39. We see Him grieved at the hard hearts of the Pharisees in Mark 3:5. We sometimes portray Jesus and the Pharisees as enemies–but Jesus loved them. He yearned for them to abandon their sinful blindness and to return to Him in love.
Here, Satan offers Jesus a potential way out of this painful rejection. “Prove yourself to the Pharisees! Show them that God has sent you. Show them in a way that cannot be ignored.” But this was not the plan. Jesus was to be despised and rejected by men. He was to be betrayed by His people and sent to the shameful execution of the cross.
And while this spectacle might have politically forced the support of the Pharisees, it wouldn’t have softened their hard hearts any more than the other countless miracles Jesus performed.
Jesus refused this false solution and submitted Himself to the coming rejection to save the souls of sinners like us.
Hail, Thou once despised Jesus! Hail Thou Galilean King!
Thou didst suffer to release us; Thou didst free salvation bring.
Hail, Thou universal Savior, who hast borne our sin and shame,
By whose merits we find favor! Life is given thro’ Thy name.
The Lutheran Hymnal 367: 1